No One But You Read Online Free Page A

with a squeal of tires in front of him. He recognized the two faces grinning back at him. Denise and Naomi beckoned for him to approach. He looked toward the backseat. The twins were missing in action. Still, facing two of Sara’s sorors could feel like going up against an entire squad.
    “Good morning, ladies. Perfect timing, as always.”
    “Get in, we’re about to make your day.” Naomi motioned to the backseat.
    Jackson complied. His mood lightened considerably. He tried to settle back in the seat as Denise’s erratic driving took them through the downtown area, heading north.
    “We’re taking you to where our girl works.” Denise spoke to him, as she caught his gaze in the rearview mirror.
    “I’m grateful for your help.” Jackson couldn’t believe his luck kept. “I’m curious, though.”
    “Yeah.” Denise shot him a glance over her shoulder.
    “Why are you all so intent on helping me with Sara?”
    “Call it an intervention. But, the truth is that only one of us pushed for this,” Naomi clarified. “I was the one in your corner. The twins, especially, wanted the life squeezed out of you.”
    “Always knew they were vicious,” he tried to joke, but couldn’t muster a laugh.
    “Remember before I pledged with Sara, you’d talk to me about her in science lab. You left those trust-fund babes to talk to the shy little girl from Ohio. My sorors didn’t know you until much later, but I got to witness that first blush of romance. I got to see how your face lit up when you talked about her. Even your boys couldn’t shake your lovesick attitude with their constant ribbing.”
    Jackson recalled some of those cherished memories of Sara, as Naomi talked. Sarafina had captured his interest when she’d modeled for an art student. Her body cut a graceful portrait, with its elegant lines and soft expressions. Draped along a reclining chair, she looked like a queen of any continent. Posed in front of an assortment of clay pottery, her skin had gleamed its own shade of bronze with a hint of cinnamon coloring.
    “What I want to know is what you plan to do if she doesn’t want you,” Denise’s voice intruded with harsh practicality.
    Jackson shrugged. “I have two weeks to convince her otherwise.”
    “And you think that you’re the man to do that,” Denise mocked. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you. We’ll all help you because my soror’s heart is weak enough to still want you.”
    “She said that?” Jackson stared out of the window. He sounded pathetically hopeful. Hope was all he had. “What has she been up to? I can’t imagine that there isn’t someone in the background.”
    “There was—” Naomi began.
    “That’s for Sara to tell.” Denise turned to Naomi, not hiding their exchange of looks.
    Sara with another man sickened him. But why should she stick around for him? Did this man still play a role in her life?
    They rode the rest of the way in silence. Jackson didn’t mind. He wanted time to focus on what he wanted to say. The change from the busy downtown area to the more residential landscape quieted his mind from the unpleasant scenarios about Sara’s personal life.
    Denise turned on to a university campus. The landscape had a New England quality with old English-style buildings and a backdrop of golden-and-brown hues heralding the incoming fall foliage. Jackson read the simple sign for Dickenson Women’s College. So this was where Sara worked, on a quiet campus nestled on the edge of an expansive field.
    The layout of the campus provided an open setting with low-lying buildings dotting the tree-populated area. Several walking paths crisscrossed the acres, connecting buildings, like a busy beehive. Students milled around in various groups or as solitary figures sitting on benches or reclining under trees.
    Denise pulled into a staff-only parking area and pulled up next to the curb. “Hop out, big man. Head down this path and make a right into the Clarendon Building. That’s where